NOT tough enough, not nasty enough, not prepared to push the letter of the law to the limit - that's the damning verdict on the Welsh pack today from grizzled legend Graham Price.

And Price, who won a staggering 13 British Lions Test caps and was one of the hardest men ever to have worn the red shirt, has branded talk of Wales returning to the Seventies style in the wake of the Scotland triumph as ridiculous.

Now, the most famous third of the much-vaunted Pontypool front row is predicting France might select a few of their "dirty b******s" to rough Wales up in the wake of the battering they took up front against Ireland in Dublin.

"It made me laugh a little when I heard all the talk about Wales' new open style being a throwback to the 70s," said Price, whose debut try against the French in Paris in 1975 remains one of the most famous Welsh scores of all time.

"Take a look at the Crowning Years video, the majority of those tries came late in the game after we had spent ages wearing down the opposition up front.

"And the fact is, that was what many of those games were about - doing the donkey work and battering away at forward.

"Now all I seem to read about is this hair bear nonsense surrounding the two Neath props.

"A lot of bloody good that is when we go out and perform like that even when we knew what was coming!"

Price doesn't doubt the ability or the fitness level of the forwards at Steve Hansen's disposal.

But he was appalled at the naivety of the group effort and believes unless streetwise levels increase it may not be the last Six Nations rumbling.

"Ireland pushed things to the limit of what is and isn't acceptable in terms of the law in such a way that they got away with it," he said.

"And quite honestly on Sunday it didn't appear they were even trying to match them on that score.

"There's been a lot of talk about elusive runners and throwing it wide just lately. But perhaps some people are forgetting that before you start talking about style you must have the platform. I can remember winning at Lansdowne Road in 1976. We won because of a Phil Bennett purple patch.

"Most of the rest of the match was spent coming to terms with an Irish pack that kept coming at us like bats out of hell."

Talk of whirling dervishes, kick and rush and kitchen sinks will be dispensed with ahead of the visit of France a week on Sunday.

Les Bleus are fabled for a more rapier-like approach, even if in the likes of Olivier Merle and Laurent Rodriguez they have spawned some of the most feared grizzlers in the game.

But Price fears having watched events in Dublin on Sunday, the French may come to Cardiff spoiling for a fight. And if they can polish up their rolling maul to Irish standards Wales could really be in trouble.

"Who knows, they may wheel out some of their more dirty b******s!" he said. "And as we have found out, they do have plenty of them in their ranks if they wish to utilise them.

"The French have traditionally been not so in-your-face as other teams. They tend to like to stand off a little bit more and let their skill and work rate do the job. So there may not be the type of pressure in the mauls as there was on Sunday, but Wales are going to have to improve their defence. In that department they looked totally ragged."